Classical Tulsa Podcast: Conductor John Jeter introduces Louis Ballard

Composer Louis Ballard was a true trailblazer: Born in 1931 to Quapaw and Cherokee parents in the area near Miami, Oklahoma, called the Devil's Promenade, he studied music at the University of Tulsa, where he became the first American Indian to earn a graduate degree in composition in 1962. He went on to enjoy a multifaceted career as a composer, educator, artist, filmmaker, and more, capturing Native American life as he saw it from his home in New Mexico. His music has largely fallen into obscurity since his death in 2007, but a new album seeks to change that: On this Classical Tulsa Podcast, host Jason Heilman speaks with conductor John Jeter, Music Director of the Fort Smith Symphony, about their newest release on the Naxos label spotlighting the music of Oklahoma’s own Louis Ballard.